The Batlord

I see you still have not corrected your mistake(s).

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Trollheart

Title: Enter
Artiste: Fire! Orchestra
Genre: Jazz, Improvisational
Familiarity: Zero
Recommended by: Frownland

Expectations: Certain words go with Frownland like flies go with .... other flies. Jazz. Free jazz. Experimental. Avant-garde. And so on. So it's no surprise at all to me to find that this is a) a free jazz improvisation record and b) it has four tracks, three of which exceed thirteen minutes each. I also expect fully to hate this, providing I make it through.

1. Enter Part One: Ok, some nice guitar to start off, it's not too wild (but there's plenty of time yet) Piano and ooh! Female vocal which is very soulful indeed. Soft horn with male vocals now breathing in. This is quite nice so far. Five minutes in and the vocals drop out and we have a screechy feedback guitar (maybe) in a sort of drone effect. Now bass comes in with percussion, and a solo female vocal this time, sort of tribal/gospel in feel, getting a bit more into that sort of frenetic jazz thing I hate. It's a bit overwrought, but not too bad. And only two minutes to go. Yeah, the ending is terrible but in fairness I can't hate this, so it earns an Orange, which is a better start that I had anticipated.
2. Enter Part Two: Good sort of psychedelic organ driving this, kind of reminds me of the little I've heard of VU, but what do I know? Very repetitive certainly, and the longest track at just over seventeen minutes. Yeah, it's basically a sort of jam I guess, but I hope it changes soon, as I don't think I can take eleven more minutes of this! Okay, now it's just gone full Merzbow and is nothing more than noises. Sigh. Maybe settling into some sort of horn tune in minute ten? Just solo horn for now, nothing else at all. Now a second trumpet coming in with bass and maybe guitar, I don't know: at least it's more recognisable as music now. Very slow and kind of funereal, but then one horn gets uppity and screeches all over the place. Just going through my head like a jackhammer now. End, please. End. Thank you.
3. Enter Part Three: At least that's the longest one over. Next one isn't too far behind it though, at over fourteen and a half minutes, and the closer, shortest track, even hits nine. Ugh. Well, sounds like someone clearing their throat rather quietly --- have I stumbled into that Five Men Singing album again by accident? Now it sounds like someone is being choked, or strangling a chicken, while another one has serious constipation. One minute in and this is already torture. Let's just assume it's annoying vocal crap for the rest of the track and if anything happens to change that I'll let you know. Oh wait: five minutes in and we have a nice piano and bass combination, with a recognisable vocal, female, though she still sounds in pain. Damn, every time I think it's over it's just fading down into the next part. Ten minutes in. At least I'm nearly there. Back to the screeching, squealing, farting and coughing. Anyone got any balloons? Think these guys have plenty.
4. Enter Part Four: I'm just pre-rating this as Red. I can't see this changing in any significant way that would make me hate it less. Well, then. A vocal with some nice piano and not-annoying horn. Maybe I was a little hasty. Still, there's another seven minutes to go; plenty of time for this to weird out the way the rest of the album has. What do you know? It didn't. And this is really actually ****ing good! I'll have to mark this as an Orange. Colour change, people! Hop to it! Whaddya think I pay ya for?

End result: Overall though, the final track excepted, pretty much what I expected, and the cause of a sudden thumping headache. God damn you Frown!

So, Love or Hate? I can't really make this anything other than a Hate. Good for me. Good for me...

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Trollheart

Title: Acid Tongue
Artiste: Jenny Lewis
Genre: Indie/Alt-Country
Familiarity: Zero
Recommended by: Justthefacts

Expectations: No idea. I assumed this would be another hip-hop artist. Interested now. Also quite interested to see the reaction if I don't like the album, as this is Justthefacts's first return since D'Angelogate...

1. Black sand: ooh! Really nice, dreamy voice. Good start. Kind of acoustic piano tune, swaying but with power. Kind of hear Kate Bush at times. Nice bit of violin there.
2. Pretty bird: Sort of a jazzy little number, slightly more uptempo and now I hear Beverly Craven. Nice guitar work. Like the sort of distortion a la Chris Isaak (sure he's not the only one who does it, but he's the one who comes to my mind).
3. The next messiah: Hmm. I wonder is almost nine minutes going to be stretching it a little? Nice snarling guitar intro then a blues/boogie vibe as it takes off, good so far, and we haven't yet reached the first minute. Lot of Country in this. Hmm, that's odd. It's like it suddenly became two separate songs, the second sung by a male. And completely different. Not sure about this at all. No, that's just stupid. No wonder it's so long! I do like it, but it's getting a Red for the ridiculous double song here. And now it's going back into the original. Lord help us. That was inane on a massive scale.
4. Bad man's world: This though is very nice, and puts the weird and somewhat annoyed memory of the previous track behind us. I hear Judie Tzuke (yeah), and shots of ELO in the cello parts.
5. Acid tongue: Ah, acoustic guitar start, always good. Great backing vocals here, a super little ballad.
6. See Fernando: Oh I love the powerful slide guitar in this (is it slide guitar? Sounds like it. What do I know?) Hops along in a fine rocking vein. Like that a lot.
7. Godspeed: Almsot filching the melody from “A whiter shade of pale” here Jenny! Nice piano ballad though. Beautiful cello coming in on the third minute, and I like the lyrical idea.
8. Carpetbaggers: Geting back to the rocking in a kind of early Steve Earle vein to a degree, also elements of Nanci Griffith around maybe Last of the True Believers era. Great guitar and some fine organ. Guest vocals from Elvis Costello are interesting. Do they duet? Yes they do, and quite well too. Interesting that the lyric uses the name of one of those Dust Bowl Ballads from Woody Guthrie which I reviewed previously. Wonder if that was an intentional tip of the hat to the old folk legend?
9. Trying my best to love you: Beautiful gospel ballad, really showcases her voice.
10. Jack killed mom: Very honky-tonk piano opening. Changes considerably for the chorus. Nice. Could do without the spoken male vocal though. Total gospel freakout for the end.
11. Sing a song for them: Nice simple little piano tune with some good percussion and a rippling line running through it.

End result: A triumphant return indeed. JTF comes back out of the wilderness and delivers an album I can only love. It's a far cry from the hip-hop “opuses” we argued over, but I'm glad to see there's more to him than just that one genre. This was quite a revelation, and I'm glad I got a chance to hear it. Have to say, again based on the title and JTF's preferences as I understood them, I was not looking forward to it, but I'm glad to say I was wrong. Welcome back, man!

So, Love or Hate? This is a definite Love.

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grindy

I'd never have expected you to hate Fire! Orchestra that much.
Sure some of it is way too free-jazzy for you, but I thought you'd enjoy its groovier parts enough to at least give it an overall meh or even like.
Now I'm eagerly anticipating Frownland's inevitable argument with you on the album's behalf.

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A smell of petroleum prevails throughout.

Trollheart

Oh yeah, that will be fun.
As you can see, I kind of dug the first and last tracks, but overall the rest of it pissed me off so much that I couldn't really say I didn't hate it. So I did.

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Trollheart

Title: Slaughter of the Soul
Artiste: At The Gates
Genre: Death Metal
Familiarity: Zero; have heard of them though
Recommended by: The Batlord

Expectations: Loud, noisy, fast, screechy or growled vocals, hopefully some good guitar solos. Absolutely no ballads, and I don't really expect to hear cello or harpsichord either.

1. Blinded by fear: Sort of sounds like someone scraping metal on metal (yeah) and a spoken vocal before it kicks up and hammers along. Vocal, to be fair, is not half bad; I can make out what's being sung. Decent start all right.
2. Slaughter of the soul: Like the trundling riff on this, thumps along really well. Just nothing really standing out to me at the moment. All good, just nothing particularly great as yet.
3. Cold: Has a kind of dramatic, almost warrior feel to it. I'm told this has one of the best neo-classical guitar solos in the subgenre. Interested to hear that. Oh, is that it? Ah, no, this has to be it, at exactly two minutes in. That's some fine shreddin', boy! Think this one earns its Green. Yup.
4. Under a serpent sun: Oh and this is going Green too. Really like this. Glad to see they've shaken themselves out of that sort of samey slump they were in earlier and started playing decent, recognisable songs that are separate from each other. Love the solo here. Eat it Batty: I like solos, so what?
5. Into the dead sky: This is an unexpectedly beautiful instrumental, and if there were lyrics I would have to take it back about there being no ballads on the album. Superb.
6. Suicide nation: Man, this one tears along with a real sense of menace. Love it. The guitar just rips ya up the middle!
7. World of lies: Has a punchier, almost Slayer feel to it.
8. Unto others: Like the kind of staggered guitar approach here (don't ask: I know as much about playing guitar as I do about car engines!) and it struts along really nicely.
9. Nausea: Faster and angrier; great fretwork.
10. Need: More kind of a romp in this; oddly enough I hear elements of Manowar. Shut up Batty, I do. Is that a triangle at the end?
11. The flames of the end: Keyboards opening? Keyboards? More like progressive metal here, even progressive rock! Is this an instrumental? Oh now listen to that guitar bite in! ****ing excellent! Love this one.

End result: Melodic death metal (or any death metal) is not normally my thing, as you all know, but yeah: I can see why these guys are so highly rated and respected. After the first two tracks disappointed me somewhat I really got into it and it was a great ride.

So, Love or Hate? Another Love.

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Trollheart

Title: Do You Know Who You Are?
Artiste: Texas is the Reason
Genre: Emo/Hardcore
Familiarity: Zero
Recommended by: bob

Expectations: Hardcore has not been kind to me, emo perhaps marginally moreso. Bob let me down with his last rec so I don't know: perhaps redemption is on the horizon?

1. Johnny on the spot: Good rocking start anyway; some hardcore vocals are way too screamy for me but these seem just fine. Good stuff; nothing terribly special I'll say at this point, but enjoyable certainly. Lot of energy.
2. The magic bullet theory: Again, it's okay but it's not making me want to drop a Green.
3. Nickel wound: Started off in an interesting kind of low-key way, built on a rather nice melody. Yeah, it's okay.
4. There's no way I can talk myself out of this one tonight (The drinking song): Pretty damn long title! Again a nice slow buildup then sort of swings along with some pretty powerful guitar. Okay, this one can have a Green. Best so far of a pretty meh lot.
5. Something to forget: Unfortunately, the title is appropriate. I can't remember the track once it ends.
6. Do you know who you are: Okay now this is special. Is this an instrumental? Really effective use of different guitars, very introspective in tone. Like this one a lot.
7. Back and to the left: This isn't bad either; has some personality and character about it. Throw a Green on this one too.
8. The day's refrain: Yeah, it's kind of getting better now as it goes towards the end. Really nice vocal here and a good melody, not so acerbic as some of the opening tracks. Gets pretty spectacular in the last minute or so.
9. A Jack with one eye: And a good powerful, and indeed memorable, closer.

End result: Started really badly. Not badly, but unremarkably let's say, then I began to warm to it and by the end I could see the attraction. Still wouldn't be too interested in going any further with the band, or even possibly replaying this, but not a waste of my time, as it seldom is with bob.

So, Love or Hate? Thought I would be doing well to stretch to a Like, but hell, I'm giving this a Love.

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Frownland

I'm just confused as to how "really ****ing good" can get an orange rating. Maybe if someone else had recommended it to you, you wouldn't be so predisposed to getting "pissed off" by the music.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Trollheart

Title: First Impressions of Earth
Artiste: The Strokes
Genre:
Familiarity: Zero. Yes, zero. Wanna fight about it?
Recommended by: The Identity Matrix

Expectations: Everyone knows The Strokes, right? Wrong. I know OF them, but have never heard a single song. So sue me. Mind you, this is the first rec from The Identity Matrix, and he (it?) was really gushing over Jeff Wayne, so I had better be nice. Or not. Lets hit play. Oh, interesting to see seventies star Albert Hammond's son is in the band.

1. You only live once: Kind of sounds a little like The Cars to me, good beat to the song. Is this where YOLO comes from? Like the guitar work, very sharp but very melodic. Vocal is definitely very new wave. Catchy song.
2. Juicebox: Love the Peter Gunnesque bassline that opens this. Very uptempo and a little frenetic. Different vocal entirely. Same guy? It would seem so. Good range then. Some of Hammond's guitar work here is really frantic, almost verging on metal at times, and the vocal skates the edge of punk without actually falling in.
3. Heart in a cage: Was expecting a ballad, got a rip-roaring rocker that I absolutely love. Such energy and fun. First Blue, may not be the last.
4. Razorblade: This is really whimsical. The high fluting guitar really makes it. Cool. Great hook, though it sounds suspiciously familiar... ah yes. “Oh Mandy! You came and you gave without taking...” Cheeky, guys! Cheeky!
5. On the other side: Another great bassline and a song that trundles along really well, sort of like a happy march or something. Really like this one. Are these two songs about suicide? If so, they're the happiest songs about that subject I've ever heard.
6. Vision of division: Didn't think I'd like this one but as it went along I really got into the angry and frustrated vibe of it.
7. Ask me anything: There's an odd kind of minimal new-wave thing about this; sounds like violin and I'm told that's mellotron though it doesn't sound like it. Pretty depressing song, first that's come across to me that way.
8. Electricityscape: This is much better. Boppy, uptempo, though again I feel the main melody is familiar. Can't place it this time however. Nice midsection.
9. Killing lies: This is pleasant, but nothing special, and I feel to a degree that the album is tapering off slightly now as it heads towards the end.
10. Fear of sleep: And another very familiar melody. Very powerful song, you can really hear his passion in the vocal and the guitars just batter.
11. 15 minutes: Great blues ballad. Maybe we're back on track? Oh, okay: not a ballad. Just kicked into third gear. Nice.
12. Ize of the world: This really has a tremendous amount of energy in it, some excellent fretwork from Hammond, and I think my previous comment about the quality dipping can be seen now to have been in error. Totally abrupt ending is odd, literally stops mid-word?
13. Evening sun: Real sense of The Divine Comedy in this one. Very breezy.
14. Red light: And another bouncy uptempo one to end.

End result: A lot better than I had expected. Some very good songs, even if they do seem to occasionally filch melodies and ideas from other songs.

So, Love or Hate? This would have to be a Love. Three in a row!

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Trollheart

Well it also has to be taken in the overall context of the album. Like I say, up to then I was expecting it to go Red. It wasn't as bad as that. It was only "really ****ing good" in comparison to the rest of the tracks. I certainly didn't love it, so it would only get an Orange. It was probably more the surprise aspect of it that changed the rating. Had I heard that as first track, it would more than likely have got a Green, but the rest of the album coloured (hah) my perception of it.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018